


Remember Our Vows

by WondrousWendy



Series: Wendy's Kinktober Pieces [2]
Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Brief mention of body horror, F/M, Fear of Losing Children, Implied Sexual Content, Kinktober 2019, Loss of Parent(s), Married Couple, Past Amputation, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, References to the Culling of Stratholme, Relationship Discussions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 07:49:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20870729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WondrousWendy/pseuds/WondrousWendy
Summary: On their wedding anniversary, former crusaders Thellys and Arthur Archavon remember their time in Northrend fighting against the Lich King and talk about the future of their family.Day Two -- Bath





	Remember Our Vows

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go, day two of Kinktober! 
> 
> To provide some context, these piece features two more original characters from World of Warcraft. My character, Thellys, is a human paladin who served as a field medic in Northrend with the Argent Crusade. My friend's OC, Arthur, also served in the Argent Crusade in Northrend as a soldier. They endured many hardships together, including being taken as prisoners of war to work in saronite mines in Icecrown until being rescued by other Crusade soldiers. Arthur lost one of his arms after needing to have it amputated by Thellys. They got married at the Argent Tournament grounds, and after the war, moved back home to Thellys's family home in Lordaeron where they rebuilt her family's old apple orchard. At the start of this piece, which takes place during the Cataclysm expansion, they have three kids.

There’s always something that needs to be done around the home and orchard, but today’s the last day they’ll have the house to themselves, without their children. Her brother Thaeus and his wife Ziael have been kind enough to take in their merry band of misfits—three children can be a lot to handle, after all—so she and Arthur could celebrate their anniversary with privacy.

Over the course of the weekend, they’ve spent quality time with each other, and at Arthur’s insistence, left their chores to lie, at least until after the kids are back home. Fishing on Lordaemere Lake, picnics in the forest, cuddling by their fireplace, and lounging on their porch at night to gaze up at the stars.

It’s been a perfect weekend, but on the actual day of their anniversary, the past rears its head.

Because it snowed overnight, they spend a lovely day indoors. The snow is pretty, beautiful, creating a winter wonderland outside, and if their kids were home, they would love to play in it. But for Thellys and Arthur, they’ve known enough of winter and cold to prefer to enjoy it from the warm comfort of their home.

Over dinner, however, Thellys finds herself walking on thin ice with a simple question.

“What do you think about having another child?”

Thellys doesn’t raise her glance away from her cup of warm cider. It’s silly, really, to want another child when you already have three amazing, healthy children. Yet, there’s something that gnaws at her, deep inside, like a clawing, festering wound she’s never been able to heal no matter how much she prays.

Thellys doesn’t keep track of how much time has passed, but the silence that follows her question lingers for too long.

“Forget I mentioned it,” she murmurs, closing her eyes to hold back tears she doesn’t understand. “Maybe we should start planning for the upcoming harvest.”

“Thellys, sweetheart...”

She hears the scratch of a chair against the wooden floor, and then, a moment later, there’s a hand covering her own. She opens her eyes and sees her husband kneeling beside her, his heart on his sleeve.

Guilt washes over Thellys. The wound lashes out inside of her, twisting and thrashing to make its presence known. She blinks, and she sees her husband on the metal operating table, his tanned arm turning a putrid shade of yellow. She blinks, and then the image is gone, leaving Arthur kneeling there with worry in his bright blue eyes.

“What’s wrong? Talk to me.”

“I don’t want to ruin our anniversary with this. We’ve had a wonderful last couple of days—“

“If the point of anniversaries is to remember our vows to each other,” he explains, his hand turning her own to thread their fingers together, “then I believe I promised that day to tend to you in sickness and in health. Something’s on your mind.”

Before she can respond, Arthur adds, with a soft smile, “If this is about your question, then my answer is simple, really. I love being a father, I love our family, and nothing would make me happier than to see it grow.”

“That’s precisely the problem.”

Thellys clenches her free hand into a fist and shakes her head. She shouldn’t let this bother her, she should have moved on from what happened so many years ago, but this worry, this fear, it’s something the Light has never been able to purge.

What would Arthur think of her, if he knew what haunted her nightmares. Can she really tell him? Could he understand?

“Promise you’ll listen fully, before you say anything?”

“Sweetheart, you know me. I was a paladin. We’re known for our patience.”

Arthur smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He has every right to be scared.

So, Thellys braces for impact. She takes a deep breath and then turns in her chair to face him.

“Do you ever wonder what your parents must have been thinking in the early days following the outbreak of the plague?”

“I try not to think about Stratholme,” Arthur says honestly. “I know they died to Arthas after smuggling us out of the city. I don’t know why they went back. I suppose they wanted to help others escape. Maybe they believed they were infected.” He sighs, sadly. “I don’t really know.”

“Sometimes I think about my parents, and what it must have been like to know that the grain Father brought home from the market in Andorhal could have been tainted with something terrible. Mother watched as all three of her sons—my brothers—went off to fight alongside her against the Scourge. Thaeus doesn’t like to talk about it, but I know he wonders sometimes if his life would be different if he had just listened to our mother and run away with us to Southshore instead of fighting the undead. Maybe he wouldn’t have been killed, maybe he wouldn’t have become a death knight in Arthas’s army. He was only a squire back then, and he chased his brothers because he looked up to them. Wanted to be like mom, especially—helping the weak.”

Thellys reaches out to run her fingers through Arthur’s thick brown hair.

“I don’t know what’s worse—to have only one child, loving them with all your heart, and losing them to violence you can’t protect them from. Or having many children, loving them all so deeply, wishing the best for each of them, and knowing you can’t save them all. Having to choose life and death for each of them, knowing that some of them will die, and...”

Thellys doesn’t realize she’s crying until Arthur’s fingers wipe gently at her cheek. She leans into his palm and clutches onto his wrist for support.

“I want to see our family grow, but sometimes I worry about what I would do if I’m ever placed in a situation like my parents were. I don’t know what I’d do if I could only save one of them, when I love them all so much.” She chokes back a sob. “Does that make me a bad mother?”

Arthur pulls her into his chest, embracing her with his one arm tightly around her. Warmth washes over her, dispelling the cold that clung to her like a shroud of death. He holds her close, breathes her in deep, and then he places a soft kiss to her forehead.

“You’re not a bad mother. I’ve watched you tend to our children with nothing but love and affection. Thea, Eldric, Aldric—you’ve been good to them, and they’re growing up in a happy, safe home because we have been working hard to ensure that they do.” He starts to rub her back, slowly. “Light knows if something were to ever happen, we would do everything in our power to protect them, of that you can be assured.”

“I’m sorry about all this. I really wasn’t trying to spoil dinner, I just...”

“Thellys, you don’t need to explain it to me. I felt it too. I think about Northrend as well when the weather’s like this.”

“It’s dreadful.” She can’t help but laugh, sadly, and sniffle. “Give me sunny skies or rainclouds, but I hate snow—and I feel so silly for saying it.”

“The only thing snow’s good for is making snowmen and having snowball fights. At least that's what little Thea would say.” He kisses her cheek. “They'll all be dreadfully disappointed they missed this storm.”

Thellys smiles. He’s right, there’s nothing better than watching the father of her children happily lose in snowball fights just so they will laugh and cheer at their victory.

“To be honest, I had been thinking about having another child for awhile,” he says genuinely. He scratches the back of his neck and chuckles sheepishly. “I thought maybe he should try for another girl.”

“I’d like that.” Thellys pulls them both onto their feet, and as she stares up into his eyes, the chill she felt earlier dissipates. “I think Thea would like having a baby sister.”

Without another word, Arthur smiles broadly, and he pulls Thellys along, abandoning their empty dishes on the table to go upstairs to their bath.

Once there, a beat passes as Arthur pulls away from Thellys to turn the faucet on to fill the basin with warm, steaming water. Then, slowly, they shed each other’s clothes until they stand naked before one another.

Arthur moves in first, sitting comfortably in the basin, and then Thellys joins him, settling into his lap. It’s a snug fit, but it suits them just fine. All Thellys wants is to feel his touch, to kiss him everywhere, to have him deep inside her, filling her. Enraptured in bodily heat, there’s nothing else that matters more in that moment than being joined with her husband.

Violence in Lordaeron took almost everything from them. Family members, time, and their youthful innocence. The war in Northrend almost took what remained. It took one of Arthur’s arms, and it almost broke Thellys to have to be the medic that stole it away from him. The chill of Icecrown followed them, lingering like a wretched spectre. But they’ve found ways to beat back the cold; loving their children, tending to the apple orchard they manage, and clinging to one another through every storm.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you would like to see the full list of prompts for the entire month of Kinktober, please check out my [twitter! ](https://twitter.com/W0ndrousWendy) I will be writing for a handful of pairings from various fandoms, and my aim is to give some love to rarepairs and to my OCs! Stay tuned for more!


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